Tag: Duke University

Wisconsin top class of 2025 offensive line target cancels pair of official visits

Wisconsin top class of 2025 offensive line target cancels pair of official visits

Wisconsin top class of 2025 interior offensive line target Hardy Watts canceled official visits to Boston College and Duke on Monday.

Having just wrapped up his official visit weekend with the Badgers, Watts was slated to visit Duke this coming weekend and BC at some point in June. He took an official visit to Clemson on May 31 and will venture to Michigan on June 21.

Wisconsin is now one of three schools to land an official visit with Watts, along with the Tigers and Wolverines. The Badgers extended an offer to Watts in early February.

The top interior offensive lineman is 247Sports’ No. 217 player in the class of 2025, No. 12 iOL and No. 1 recruit from his home state of Massachusetts.

The rising high school senior also holds offers from top programs including Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Miami, Michigan State, Nebraska, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas A&M.

 

Wisconsin’s class of 2025 currently ranks No. 13 in the nation with 16 players committed. That number will certainly balloon as official visit season progresses this summer.

If UW were to land a commitment from the top lineman, his potential as a Badger is limitless. Watts could become an instant sensation in Madison with Wisconsin’s track record of producing some of the greatest collegiate and professional linemen in history,

Nonetheless, the group has four offensive tackles committed thus far: three-star Cam Clark, three-star Michael Roeske, three-star Nolan Davenport, and four-star Logan Powell.

Duke earns the second-most perfect Academic Progress Rate scores of any FBS school

The Blue Devils finished with the second-most perfect Academic Progress Rate scores across their athletic program of any FBS school.

The NCAA released its Academic Progress Rate data for the 2022-23 academic year on Tuesday, and it should come as no surprise that the Duke Blue Devils absolutely excelled.

The Duke athletic program earned perfect APR scores in 14 different programs. Both cross country teams, both golf teams, both soccer teams, and both track teams all earned perfect 1,000s.

The men’s lacrosse team, the softball team, the women’s swim and dive team, the women’s volleyball team, the field hockey team, and the women’s fencing team all earned the same grade.

USA TODAY Sports’ Scooby Axson wrote that only Notre Dame (16) earned more perfect grades than the Blue Devils among FBS schools.

Duke football finished with a score of 987, the fourth-highest in the ACC.

Tampa Bay lineman Graham Barton skipping Duke University’s Sunday graduation ceremony

Tampa Bay offensive lineman Graham Barton joked that graduation is “overrated” when he said he’d be unable to attend Duke’s Sunday ceremony.

Duke University will host its school-wide graduation ceremony on Sunday, but one of its most famous graduates will not be in attendance.

Tampa Bay offensive lineman Graham Barton, the former Blue Devil taken 26th overall in the 2024 NFL draft, said on Saturday that he won’t make the ceremony since the team’s rookie minicamp started on Friday.

“Work started a little early for me,” Barton said with a laugh. “Graduation’s overrated.”

Barton called the choice between college graduation and NFL rookie minicamp a ‘first-world problem.’

The four-year Blue Devils starter played left tackle in each of the past three seasons in Durham, but the Buccaneers already announced that he’ll shift back to center, the position he played as a college freshman.

Duke fans got their first look at the two-time First Team All-ACC lineman in NFL gear on Friday when he took his first snaps in a Bucs jersey during the first day of camp.

Barton’s NFL career begins later this fall.

Panthers, Tar Heels legend Julius Peppers reacts to UNC-Duke classic

UNC legend Julius Peppers implored the Tar Heels’ faithful to stay classy on Saturday night following their team’s thrilling win over Duke. But did they listen?

Carolina Panthers icon Julius Peppers doesn’t tweet too often. But when he does, he makes it count . . . unlike Trevor Keels’ and-one attempt.

Following Saturday night’s Final Four classic between the North Carolina Tar Heels and Duke Blue Devils, Peppers dropped a short and sweet message to his peeps. So, even as a North Carolina boy and Tar Heel through and through, he hoped at least some civility would prevail in the latest chapter this storied rivalry.

As long as he’s being sincere, that’s awfully nice. Perhaps Peppers was hoping his fellow members of the Tar Heel family would take it easy on the Dukies, especially with North Carolina ousting coach Mike Krzyzewski from his final NCAA tourney.

But would they listen? Um . . .

Well, he tried.

Peppers is no stranger to high-stakes college basketball himself. A former forward of two seasons at Chapel Hill, he remains the only person ever to play in both a Super Bowl and a Final Four game.

Between 1999 and 2001, Peppers averaged 5.7 points per contest on the hardwood—while also earning unanimous All-American honors as a defensive end on the football field. He and his Tar Heels got to Indianapolis in 2000, where they’d fall one step short of the National Championship game in a 71-59 loss to the Florida Gators.

But while the basketball side hustle was probably an incredible experience, Peppers’ actual calling led him to become a gridiron great and a North Carolina legend.

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Coach K’s lasting legacy and what’s next for Duke

Mackenzie Salmon and Dan Wolken put into perspective Coach K’s lasting legacy and discuss if Duke will still be Duke under new head coach Jon Scheyer

Mackenzie Salmon and Dan Wolken put into perspective Coach K’s lasting legacy and discuss if Duke will still be Duke under new head coach Jon Scheyer

Giants lose defensive line coach Sean Spencer to Duke

New York Giants defensive line coach Sean Spencer is leaving the team and taking a new role at Duke University.

It’s been a week of significant change for the New York Giants.

General manager Dave Gettleman has retired, head coach Joe Judge has been fired and several executives and coaches have begun to depart.

Offensive line coach Rob Sale took off for Florida, college scouting director Chad Klunder is headed to Duke and now defensive line coach Sean Spencer is exiting stage left as well.

Like Klunder, Spencer will now call Duke University home. He is expected to take over as the co-defensive coordinator.

Spencer — also known as “Coach Chaos” — was originally hired by the Giants in January of 2020. He was a fallback option after they missed out on Freddie Roach (who ended up at Alabama).

Before joining the Giants, Spencer had spent the six years at Penn State coaching the defensive line under James Franklin, whom he had worked with previously while at Vanderbilt (2011-2013). Prior to that, he had made stops Bowling Green, Massachusetts, Hofstra and Villanova, among others.

The Giants were Spencer’s first NFL opportunity.

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Giants’ college scouting coordinator, Chad Klunder, leaves for Duke

Chad Klunder, who had served as the New York Giants’ college scouting coordinator since 2019, has left to take on a role at Duke.

On the same day offensive line coach Rob Sale left for Florida, the New York Giants also lost Chad Klunder, who had served as their college scouting director since.

Dan Duggan of The Athletic reports that Klunder will take a role at Duke University.

As Duggan notes, Klunder joined the Giants in 2019 after spending 15 years at the University of Notre Dame, where he worked alongside the Giants’ co-director of player personnel, Tim McDonnell (2005-2012).

McDonnell is the grandson of late Giants owner Wellington Mara.

In addition to his time with the Giants and Notre Dame, Klunder also previously served as running backs coach and coordinator of football operations at Harvard.

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